Quote
Dorsett unhappy with Panthers' plight
Thursday, October 14, 2004
By Gene Collier, PITTSBURGH Post-Gazette
This is how old you are: Tony Dorsett is 50.
Oh, it's depressing. And here's what's worse: At 50, Tony Dorsett looks the way he always has. Like you can't catch him. Same as it ever was.
At lunch time yesterday in the Fish Market downtown, the physical challenge was a world more modest. How long, I wondered, before I can get the Hall of Fame running back to nearly spit out the rock shrimp appetizer.
"Could I interest you in the Pitt job?" I said with no authorization and even less compunction.
"Oh man!" Dorsett said, jerking forward a bit across the table. "It's sad; it's god-awful. You know, I didn't even know that Connecticut had a team, much less a Division I team, and we lose to that team. That's after we came from behind to beat Furman? Furman!"
Came from behind to beat Temple, too.
"Right."
And Temple had lost the previous week, 70-16.
"70-16?"
To Bowling Green.
"Bowling Green!"
Yeah, watch the rock shrimp.
In the Dorsett Administration at Pitt, he could have beaten Temple by himself. He doesn't remember playing Temple, probably because the 55-6 result from Oct. 11, 1975 was typical.
"It's embarrassing; it's upsetting to me," he said. "To see Pitt not be an 'it' anymore is awful. It should not be that way. They've got to figure some things out. They've got to do something about that."
Dorsett had a few ideas, which we'll get to, but he wanted to touch on the reason for his visit to Pittsburgh among 16 cities on his current itinerary, which amounts to some promotional barnstorming for a program called Tackling Men's Health. Dorsett says he was drafted into the effort by former NFL coach and fellow Pitt legend Mike Ditka. For you younger folks, yes, he's the Levitra guy. The idea is get otherwise reluctant macho specimens of advancing age to be more pro-active about their health, about which there's an avalanche of information available at www.tacklingmenshealthy.com or by calling 1-866-NFLHealth.
"When I retired [from the NFL in 1989], I just completely shut it down," he said. "I figured I'd been doing all the physical things all my life and I'm not doing it anymore. But I ached all over. Now I jog, even though it's the most boring thing in the world, 31*2 or 41*2 miles a day and I do some lifting. When you're talking about tackling men's health and talk to men about health issues, you have to get them to put aside some of their ego and machoism and get a regular checkup.
"I got a colonoscopy!"
Yep. Apparently not even a place on the Dallas Cowboys Texas Stadium ring of honor should excuse a guy from that indignity.
"A lot of guys put that stuff off because they think they're tough and they can ride out any storm that comes about. Well, sometimes that storm is a big issue."
Dorsett has avoided any big issues, and in fact has avoided much of the arthritic consequences of having spent 12 years in the violent cauldron of professional football without ever having built himself to more than 190 pounds. He needs every ounce of stamina he can accumulate, as he has got three daughters aged 12 to 15 months at home in Dallas.
The only real pain he experiences is from watching the college football scores.
"I'd be willing to come back here -- not as a coach because I never had any coaching aspirations, but you know Texas has Earl Campbell doing some things for them and South Carolina has George Rogers, and if there was a role for me where I could stop this thing where too many players are going away from Pittsburgh, if I could show recruits what it's like to be part of something really special and memorable, I would entertain that.
"I don't want to sound like I'm looking for a job. I'm not. But I do care enough about where this program is at that I would consider it."
Dorsett's aware of the public debate between proponents of having the next coach be a "Pitt man" and those who judge that wholly unnecessary. Even though he played for a hugely successful staff led by non-Pitt men Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill, Dorsett's position on this couldn't be more clear.
"I suggested years ago that the program be turned over to one of our own, and that's the way I still feel. I think it should be someone with NFL experience. I've mentioned Matt Cavanaugh. I think it should be someone who knows Pitt football, someone who's felt it, breathed it, smelled it, tasted it."
Right now, Dorsett knows, it tastes not at all like the rock shrimp.
And sure, to be perfectly correct, the Pitt football job is not actually open.
Yeah.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
By Gene Collier, PITTSBURGH Post-Gazette
This is how old you are: Tony Dorsett is 50.
Oh, it's depressing. And here's what's worse: At 50, Tony Dorsett looks the way he always has. Like you can't catch him. Same as it ever was.
At lunch time yesterday in the Fish Market downtown, the physical challenge was a world more modest. How long, I wondered, before I can get the Hall of Fame running back to nearly spit out the rock shrimp appetizer.
"Could I interest you in the Pitt job?" I said with no authorization and even less compunction.
"Oh man!" Dorsett said, jerking forward a bit across the table. "It's sad; it's god-awful. You know, I didn't even know that Connecticut had a team, much less a Division I team, and we lose to that team. That's after we came from behind to beat Furman? Furman!"
Came from behind to beat Temple, too.
"Right."
And Temple had lost the previous week, 70-16.
"70-16?"
To Bowling Green.
"Bowling Green!"
Yeah, watch the rock shrimp.
In the Dorsett Administration at Pitt, he could have beaten Temple by himself. He doesn't remember playing Temple, probably because the 55-6 result from Oct. 11, 1975 was typical.
"It's embarrassing; it's upsetting to me," he said. "To see Pitt not be an 'it' anymore is awful. It should not be that way. They've got to figure some things out. They've got to do something about that."
Dorsett had a few ideas, which we'll get to, but he wanted to touch on the reason for his visit to Pittsburgh among 16 cities on his current itinerary, which amounts to some promotional barnstorming for a program called Tackling Men's Health. Dorsett says he was drafted into the effort by former NFL coach and fellow Pitt legend Mike Ditka. For you younger folks, yes, he's the Levitra guy. The idea is get otherwise reluctant macho specimens of advancing age to be more pro-active about their health, about which there's an avalanche of information available at www.tacklingmenshealthy.com or by calling 1-866-NFLHealth.
"When I retired [from the NFL in 1989], I just completely shut it down," he said. "I figured I'd been doing all the physical things all my life and I'm not doing it anymore. But I ached all over. Now I jog, even though it's the most boring thing in the world, 31*2 or 41*2 miles a day and I do some lifting. When you're talking about tackling men's health and talk to men about health issues, you have to get them to put aside some of their ego and machoism and get a regular checkup.
"I got a colonoscopy!"
Yep. Apparently not even a place on the Dallas Cowboys Texas Stadium ring of honor should excuse a guy from that indignity.
"A lot of guys put that stuff off because they think they're tough and they can ride out any storm that comes about. Well, sometimes that storm is a big issue."
Dorsett has avoided any big issues, and in fact has avoided much of the arthritic consequences of having spent 12 years in the violent cauldron of professional football without ever having built himself to more than 190 pounds. He needs every ounce of stamina he can accumulate, as he has got three daughters aged 12 to 15 months at home in Dallas.
The only real pain he experiences is from watching the college football scores.
"I'd be willing to come back here -- not as a coach because I never had any coaching aspirations, but you know Texas has Earl Campbell doing some things for them and South Carolina has George Rogers, and if there was a role for me where I could stop this thing where too many players are going away from Pittsburgh, if I could show recruits what it's like to be part of something really special and memorable, I would entertain that.
"I don't want to sound like I'm looking for a job. I'm not. But I do care enough about where this program is at that I would consider it."
Dorsett's aware of the public debate between proponents of having the next coach be a "Pitt man" and those who judge that wholly unnecessary. Even though he played for a hugely successful staff led by non-Pitt men Johnny Majors and Jackie Sherrill, Dorsett's position on this couldn't be more clear.
"I suggested years ago that the program be turned over to one of our own, and that's the way I still feel. I think it should be someone with NFL experience. I've mentioned Matt Cavanaugh. I think it should be someone who knows Pitt football, someone who's felt it, breathed it, smelled it, tasted it."
Right now, Dorsett knows, it tastes not at all like the rock shrimp.
And sure, to be perfectly correct, the Pitt football job is not actually open.
Yeah.
